Page 14 of Marked By Him

Why did that disappoint me?

I cleared my throat. “You didn’t eat.”

Her gaze never moved from my face. “Wasn’t hungry.”

She was a liar. I’d seen the way she responded to the first bite of food. I watched her inhale the scent as if she hadn’t eaten in days.

I thought I’d earn her trust; show her I wasn’t here to hurt her.

Apparently, it wasn’t compassion she needed to make her open up.

Which meant cruelty was the way inside her soul.

And me being a fucked-up beast with carnal urges, thatthrilled the hell out of me.

I picked up the plate and sat in the chair. “Well, I am,” I said as I shoveled a forkful of eggs into my mouth. They were cold, and cold eggs were nasty as fuck, except this wasn’t about satisfaction. It was about getting to the truth.

Her eyes were on me. Now I had her full attention.

I popped a blackberry into my mouth.

Her stomach rumbled. She wet her lips and shifted in her chair.

Neither one of us dared to look away. It was a game now, a battle of wills. Inside, I felt my resolve beginning to crack. Outside, I was a steel cage.

I picked up a slice of bacon, then slowly ripped off a bite with my teeth.

That was her breaking point.

Her eyes snapped to the floor. She lowered her head, and her hair fell, hiding her face from me. Her hands came together in her lap, locking her fingers the way we sometimes did when we prayed. She looked so vulnerable, so broken.

I watched as a lone tear fell to the floor, a single, wet dot on the dry concrete. And thatwasmybreaking point.

I leaned back in the chair and set the fork down on the plate. “Tell me your name.”

She lifted her head and glanced over at me. The sunlight reflected in her eyes, her eyelashes glittering with the tears she’d blinked back. I wasn’t sure if it was the vulnerability, the sunlight, or some kind of cruel punishment sent here to torture me, but fuck, she was beautiful.

“Evangeline.”

There it was. The first secret. It was like that first sip of whiskey out of the barrel, and I was already addicted. I wanted more. I wanted to open her up and watch it all pour out. I didn’t just want her name.

I wanted everything.

“But people call me Eve.”

My heart shot to my throat. My blood froze.

You wanted answers? There you go.

The threat I thought she was before was nothing compared to what I knew she was now. Temptation in the flesh, as though she’d been plucked out of the pages of the book and sent here to test me.

Eve.

Fucking Eve.

With that one word, everything changed.

7

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